Archive for March 19th, 2019

March 19, 2019

Chantilly, more than a cream, a beautiful castle!

And I bring the crème de la crème ooops nah as the title says it is more than a cream Chantilly is a beautiful historical and architecturally stunning castle and proud member of the Friends of Chantilly Castle!  I like to tell you a bit more reloading an old post of this beautiful property. Of course, one of my favorites in France. Hope you enjoy Chantilly, the castle!

This is a cinderalla castle ,wonderfully done and maintain, full of history and hunting stories of France.  Chantilly is ,also, the name of the town, in the department of Oise, No 60 ,in the region of Hauts de France  ( previously Picardie and historically the region of the Valois) , north of Paris, and right in the middle of the forest of Chantilly.  World renown for its cream of Chantilly, but also, a beautiful castle with a museum of Condé, racetrack or hippodrome, and a museum of the living horse! It took a great beaten in WWI as the opposition hq was based until Marshal Joffre got rid of it in the great battle of the Marne. In WWII ,the hq of the opposition was installed at the grand ecurie, the town was liberated by the Americans in 1944.  Afterward it became a great residential area full of horse lovers, and most of the jobs are found south towards Paris region.

The main route to reach Chantilly is the A1 and A16 autoroutes easily accessable from Paris or London.  The train station Chantilly-Gouvieux is on the line Paris-Lille from Paris gare du Nord, and also on the RER D from Paris.  It is only about 30 kms from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

A bit of history I like

The area is the domaine of the Montmorency family from the 15C to the 17C, then it passes to the Conde house, junior house of the Bourbon branch from the 17C to the 19C.  Only the petit chateau is original from the 16C, the Grand Chateau is a reconstruction from the 19C ( 1875-1881)  . It was the son of king Louis Philippe Ier,Henri d’Orléans, Duke of Aumale that inherits the castle and adorned it with paintings and objects of arts.  He in turns donates all to the Institut de France and the collection is turn into the museum of Condé inside the Castle ( the best collection of old paintings in France behind the Louvre!) . The Grandes  Ecuries built in 1719-1740 AD  today house the musée vivant du cheval or the living museum of the horse ,and the gardens is done by none other than Le Notre. All these complexes are worth a visit, a must to see while in the Paris area.

chantilly

chantilly

Chantilly

chantilly

chantilly-chateau-des-princes-de-conde

A bit of a tour at the properties. In the Petit Chateau, you have the appartments des Princes or princes apartments, where the Grand Condé lived; the Duke of Aumale was reserved the apartment in the ground floor. You can see a beautiful collection of manuscripts in the Cabinet des Livres or library ,where you will find the original copy of the “Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry”. The galerie de Monsieur le Prince or the gallery of Mister Prince has works of arts showing battles under the command of the Grand Condé.

chantilly-library-at-chateau-chantilly-1876

The Grand Chateau, once crossing the galerie des Cerfs or gallery of deers dedicated to hunters and hunting, you will the tapestries from the 17C, then the galerie de Peintures or paintings gallery, showing the tastes and likes of the Duke of Aumale with paintings of military battles, Richelieu,Mazarin and Gabrielle d’Estrée au bain. At the end of the gallery you reach a rotonda or main hall, you see the Vierge de Lorette by Raphael, turn to your right at the end you see the salle de la Smala and the rotonde de la Minerve where portraits of the family of Orléans are shown.  Come back a bit and see the Cabinet de Giotto dedicated to the primitive Italians, then in succession you see the Salle Isabelle, wonders from the 19C as Delacroix and Ingres, Salon d’Orléans, with porcelains of Chantilly taken from the factory founded by the duke of Bourbon in 1725. The visit continues with the salle Caroline,  work by Van Loo and Watteau etc,then Cabinet des Clouet a collection of works of arts in miniatures, opening into the Santuario where the works of Raphael Vierge de la maison d’Orléans, the Trois Glaces, Esther et Assuerus, portrait of the marriage coffre by Lippi, forty miniatures by Jean Fouquet as told in the book by Heures d’Etienne Chevalier, and you will finish this tour on the Cabinet des Gemmes that houses the beautiful jewerly and enamels as well as miniatures ,and the Tribune showing the 8 places favorites of the Duke of Aumale. All just gorgeous !

chantilly

chantilly

chantilly

chantilly

Then ,you move into the gardens, compose of three sections, the jardin a la française design by Le Notre, the jardin anglo-chinois around a hameau or house dating from 1773, and the jardin anglais from 1819. It takes about an hour to really see these. You can make longer by going to the Potager des Princes or prince veggies garden. Begin at the English garden or jardin anglais with its platanesques trees, take the allée Blanche and continue on the canal des Morfondus to reach thechapel of St Jean (built 1538); take a half turn and cross the canal des morfondus by a passarelle bridge to reach the hameau or country house created in 1774, along the banks you will see the Grand Canal to see the castle from the back great view indeed. When you return go by the allée des Philosophes; you can see kangaroos if you go outside their sleeping time very early.

chantilly

chantilly

The official webpage of the Chantilly castle properties ,you can see it in English at http://www.chateaudechantilly.com/en/  with up to date information and pricing.

The Chantilly tourist office has lots of goodies, and if you have any questions just let me know ok.   Tourist office of Chantilly in English

Hope you have enjoy the ride or the visit to a wonderful castle museum of Chantilly, see it from Paris its easy. Enjoy it

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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March 19, 2019

How to be a Parisien…..really!

Re blog and still holds true, how to be a Parisien!

This came out in my favorite newspaper and magazine Le Figaro, so I am translating here from the French. The 100 ways you can be or are sure to be a Parisien. That fits my bill alright ::)

1. Had dinner at Tokyo Eat (16éme) and not needing to open the door to the Palais de Tokyo

2. Taken a breakfast in the terrace of Café Marly (1 éme)

3. Be seated at a table in l’Abtrance (16 éme)

4.  Had organise a goodbye party to a colleague at the Train Bleu, gare de Lyon ( 12éme)

5.  Had dinner at Lipp (6 éme) at the first floor and street side with preference next to a famous head statue

6. Had eaten an onion soup at Halles (1 éme)

7. had bought a ice cream cone at Bertillon, the main house in the 4éme

8.  Had tasted a Paris-Brest by  Philippe Conticini in the Patisserie des Reves in rue du Bac (7éme)

9.  have the pleasure to fill your basket in the Grande Épicerie du Bon Marché (7éme)

10.  Have fallen for the caramel macaron with salted butter at Ladurée (8éme)

11.  had taken a mint tea at the Mosquée de Paris  (5 éme)

12.  had for lunch a tamoul at Pooja ( 10éme)

13.  Clean plate of a côte de bœuf for two at 6am in Chez Denise or La Tour de Montlhèly (I éme)

14.  Believe you were stuck in New York having a club sandwich at Harry’s Bar  (II éme)

15. Had ordered a cheese dish at Marie-Anne Cantin (VIIe)

16.  Ruined yourselves a Sunday morning at the bio market in boulevard Raspail (VIIe)

17.  had lunch un bento at Kunitoraya 2  (Ier)

18.  had drank and participated with the winegrowers while the feast of Fête des vendanges de Montmartre, early October

19.  had eaten un fallafel a Sunday at As du Fallafel , rue des Rosiers (IVe )

 20. had spent 80 euros for two of a roasted chicken with potatoes afire in Ami Louis (IIIe)

21.  had found the bag to go buy the flowers at Rungis  and eat oysters

22.  had purchase the favorite tea at  Mariage Frères

23. had a picnic on the pont des Arts

24.  had taken a bite of a libanese sandwich  at avenue George-V to think you are in Beirut

25. had a stop a pause at New Nioullaville (XIe) to enter into the Chinese new year

26. had taken a cafe at Flore

27.  be seated in front of a breakfast « plateau » at Coupole, sitting on the red benches but not in the terrace

28. to not swear if by the head of veal at Apicius  (VIIIe)

29. to be hug on the quai de la Tournelle

30. to have order a cocktail at the Bar Hemingway in the Ritz, at the eye color of the invited person, (do it before it closes for renovations)

31.  to have rented a room at the Hotel Chopin at  passage Jouffroy (IXe)

32.  to have mark your name and of your love one in the walls of the catacombes

33.  had played the card of double winner, champagne plus plaid on one the bridges of a Bateau-Mouche toenjoy the lights of the city of llights

34.  to have appointment at least once on the parvis de Notre-Dame, the fountain of Saint-Michel or the steps of the Opéra Garnier

35.  to have taken a glass facing the sun set at Bourbon, behind the Assemblée nationale

36.  to take a walk at cementary Père Lachaise  passing in front of the tombs of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde

37.  to have descended on the sewers of Paris to breath its odors !

38.  to have done a jogging in the jardin des Tuileries at sunrise

39.  to take a tour around the place des Vosges in trying to find the appartments of Jack Lang, Maître Binoche, and   DSK

40.  to have gone to Aubervilliers in the home camp of Bartabas

41.  to subscribe for a ride iin rollers blades in Paris

42.  to go walking in the city while celebrating a white night or Nuit blanche

43. to have purchase a subscription to a Vélib’

44.  to have taken the electric stairs at the Beaubourg

45.  to admire the windows of Christmas or  Noël in the big department stores

46.  to look for the Café des Deux Moulins, rue Lepic, thinking of Amélie Poulain

47.  to get lost in the basements of the  Châtelet-les Halles

48.  to walk along rue Saint-Honoré without spending nothing

49.  to be confused with  Shirley McLaine in  Irma la Douce (Billy Wilder) while walking  rue Casanova (Ier )

50.  to have missed a change in the change at Michel-Ange-Molitor and do a tour for nothing on the line 10 of the metro of paris

51.  to have assisted at march of the 14 Juillet  in the  Champs-Élysées

52.  to have put a small sailboat to ride in the lake of jardin du Luxembourg or des Tuileries

53.  to go see the old crocodiles at porte Dorée

54.  to finish reading a romance novel in a green chair (hard to find) at the jardin du Luxembourg

55.  to have purchase a ticket for a night of Pedro Almodovar or Lynch at the Cinema CHampollion (Ve) or for an episode of Star Wars at the Grand Rex  (IIe)

56. to have yell at and insulted the taxis that goes by all full

57.  to go dance at a  Bal des pompiers, an evening of the 14 Juillet

58.  to have waited for the tour Eiffel to flips it lights from the Théatre de Chaillot, at the entrance.

59.  to have taken an aperitif on the canal Saint-Martin, between two rounds of the game pétanque

60.  to have dance for a song of a DJ at Batofar

61.  to have dance on the salons of Maxim’s the friday evening for the parties of Belle Époque

62.  to have walk an evening of winter on the racecourse of trotters in Vincennes

63. to be seen been refuse entrance to chez Castel

64.  to have come in on foot a morning, because of no bus nor metro

65.  to have waited for the sunrise from the steps of Sacré-Cœur

66.  to go to the Collége de France and assist of its courses for free

67.  to be one evening on the presentation at the gallery Kamel Mennour (VIe) to see an artist such as Claude Levêque,or  Daniel Buren)

68.  to have seen an opera at the Bastille

69.  to have gone to the Louvre, simply to smile at the mona lisa and delayed your stay at the salle des Rubens

 70.  to have seen Podalydès play at the Comédie Française

71.  to have look and see at the aisles of La Hune (new address) or of the Écume des Pages (VIe)

72.  to have admired the work of  Nuit étoilée by Van Gogh at the museum of Orsay

73.  to have entered the Shop/atelier of Delacroix at  place de Furstenberg

74.  to have try to enter the Chateau des Brouillards in the butte Montmartre

75.  to have seen the work  Porte de l’enfer inside the park of the museum of Rodin

76.  to have understood what is Austerlitz at the Invalides

77.  to have entered the metro by the mouth of Guimard ,porte Dauphine or that of Othoniel at  place du Palais-Royal

78.  to have walk between the girafes and elephants in the Galerie de l’Evolution, jardin des Plantes

79.  to have seen a musical play at the Théatre du Chatelet

80.  have seen play the Philarmonica of Vienna or Berlin on the TCE

81.  Be entered in the drawers of the Bank of France while a heritage days event or Journées du patrimoine

82.  to have taken your companion to the oldest theater of Guignol of Paris , rond-point des Champs-Élysées

83.  to found yourselves seduce by shopping on Sunday in the rue des Francs-Bourgeois (IVe)

84. to have purchase old 45/78 vinyls music records at Crocodisc (Ve)

85.  to have pushed the doors at the Herboristerie du Palais-Royal (Ier) and ask plenty of questions

 86. to have obtain from your sample mold of a shirt at  Charvet (Ier), high temple of made to order

87.  to come out of Colette (Iéme) with many things of no use whatsoever

88.  to have desire to buy a pet dog right away at the animal stands along quai de la Mégisserie (Ier)

89.  tohave assisted to an Orthodox mass in rue Daru (VIIIe)

90.  to enrich yourself but not much in a sales room at Drouot

91.  to have taken time to take care of yourself in a spa on a palace hotel such as Plaza Athénée or Meurice hotels

92.  tohave spend 90 cents for an egg mayo at Voltaire  (VIIe)

93.  tohave try to walk the sidewalks of the palais de l’Élysée and be reprimend by the police force

94.  to have fallen for a ride with a nice taxi driver

95.  to have taken a glass at the first floor of Café Germain and see past the young bust of Sophie, the  sculpture of Xavier Veilhan

96.  to have attended a march of the ballet in the Opéra de Paris, and be ready for its reverence

97.  to have been mistaken for a statue in the columns of Buren

98.  to have done the experience of the high rise hair on the head of the electrostatique room of the Palais de la Découvertr

99.  had try the guitars n the stores of the rue de Douai (IXe)

100.  to have spent the month of August in Paris

Yes its sublime Paris isn’t it….Paris forever. The saying simply the best was created for it. Cheers ! Parisiens.

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